“It doesn’t have to be limited by Orwell’s horrors. The AI is coming into our lives slowly but surely. It is adding something substantially new. Watch our kids talking to their Siris and Alices, this is a brave new world” (Victor X)
Catalysti chose an innovative theme for this event: Artificial Intelligence and its many implications in nowadays world. The impact of AI and internet applications on the present society is huge, especially for the young populations. It is equally affecting the Finnish and the migrant populations. On the other hand, these tools can also represent another opportunity to meet and know each other better. All the performances will have an interactive approach.
MIRROR, MIRROR SEES THEM ALL installation-performance by Nadja Pärssinen (dance and choreography), Roberto Fusco (sound, live visuals and interaction) and Virpi Velin (photography and choreography). The project regards the process of being a user of and participant in social media and the ways it reflects selves and transforms identity structures.
Mirror, mirror sees them all is a critical take upon the AI theme and its implications in social media, commenting on what effects Artificial Intelligence has on personal and social identities. Transient selves are built, warped, broken and built again in the AI and social media processes.
As users of social media and data-based services we are provided with products in exchange of data. This installation performance addresses an emergent codependence between people and AI based technology: the experience of the other mediated by intelligent layers, encounters and relationship suggested by trained coaches, all in all a real transformation of the space of social interaction and the mechanics underlying it.
RED ROOM by Jaap Klevering, sound and performance artist.
Soundscapes, spoken word, vocal manipulation, shamanistic tekno, Google’s Voicepad – speech to text projected on screen, other visual material video-projected on screen.
Who is AI? What is its true identity? Does it even have an identity?
The performance will make use of Artificial Intelligence in an improvised poetry soundscape – using Google’s “Voicepad – speech to text”. This tool transfers spoken language into written text and can help audiences to easier understand the spoken language.
As it turns out, Google’s Voicepad has a mind of its own. It transfers what it hears without questioning the accuracy. The resulting written text is the sum of what was heard by the computer without questioning meaning. It’s a translator of low IQ and a retard compared to Watson. The result is humorous, confusing and questionable. If this kind of machine intelligence effects daily communication and would eventually develop free will, human creativity becomes challenged in unpredicted ways.
The performance will be in both English and Finnish.
IMAGINARIUM OF THE RATIONAL THINKER by Uzair Amjad, media artist.
The project is concerned with reimagining human future in the age of the algorithm. Algorithmic technologies are omnipresent and omniscient much like any ancient gods. They are invisible but their political and social effects are palpable. This technology is fast absorbing humans into its ‘technical system’ and separating us from cosmic realities. In order to bridge this separation it is urgent to understand this technical system through bringing together scientific and artistic approaches.
By combining elements from algorithmic prediction, speculative fiction, image-making and performance the project manifests as a gameplay and a series of paintings. The work through facilitating play invites the audience to engage with discussions about the ecological, social and political affects of algorithm based technologies. The work encourages a deeper investigation into our techno society to envision new modes of adaptation and a new ‘political imaginary’.
